Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/174

162 of bird and floral subjects above the glaze, but this was soon discontinued owing to the expense. Printing from copper plates is extensively practiced here at the present time, and competent artists are employed to apply the gold in pleasing devices to the rich dark glazes which characterize the better grades of ware produced. Mr. Jeffords has fully equipped his factories with the most approved modern appliances, and is one of the most progressive and successful of our modern potters.

Mr. Alexander William Robertson started a small pottery in Chelsea, Mass., in the year 1866, for the manufacture of brown ware such as was made in Great Britain, and of lava-ware similar to that of Germany. Two years afterward, Mr. Hugh Cornwall Robertson, a younger brother, was admitted to partnership in the business, the firm name being A. W. & H. C. Robertson when the production of brown ware was discontinued and the manufacture of plain and fancy flower-pots was substituted. In the following year porous cones or filters of a high grade were made for chemical purposes. In 1872 James Robertson, a practical potter of wide and varied experience in Scotland, England New Jersey, and New York, and recently from the East Boston pottery, joined his sons, the firm name being changed to James Robertson & Sons, when work of a more pretentious character was undertaken. A red bisque ware, in imitation of the antique Grecian terra-cottas and Pompeiian bronzes, was first produced in 1875. The factory adopted the name of the Chelsea Keramic Art Works. The red ware was characterized by a remarkably fine texture and smooth finish, the clay being peculiarly adapted to the faithful reproduction of the graceful classic forms, the fine polished grain offering an excellent surface for the most minute carving, showing the engraved lines as perfectly as on wood. In 1876 a pleasing effect was obtained by polishing the red ware with boiled linseed oil. On a few spherical vases thus treated, Mr. F. X. Dengler, the talented young sculptor who afterward died at the age of twenty-five, modeled from life, in high relief, choosing child and bird forms. The firm also received the benefit of advice from a number of capable artists, including, John G. Low, G. W. Fenitz, and others. For lack of public support this branch of the art was abandoned. The next venture was the Chelsea faience, introduced in 1877, which is characterized by a beautiful soft glaze. This ware soon attracted the attention of connoisseurs, and carried the firm to the front rank of American potters. The decoration consists of floral designs, either made separately by hand and sprigged on, or carved in relief from clay laid directly on the surface while moist. Some beautiful effects were produced by hammering the surface of the faience before burning, and afterward carving sprays of flowers in relief in clay applied to the